Helen Thomas becomes first woman to win Fourth Estate Award, 1984

This Week In Press Club History

December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor is attacked by Japan. Calling it “a date that will live in infamy,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares war on Japan in a joint session of Congress the following day. John Cosgrove, the most senior past president of the National Press Club and a Golden Owl, was in the audience as a staffer for Sen. Hiram Johnson of California. Immediately after the address, Cosgrove enlists in the Navy.

December 8, 1984: Helen Thomas, then a United Press International correspondent in the midst of her career that spanned six presidential administrations, is the first woman to receive the National Press Club Fourth Estate Award. On Dec. 9, l985, Flora Lewis, foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, received the Club’s 13th annual Fourth Estate Award. Mary McGrory and Christine Amanpour were also honored in 1998 and 2008, respectively.

This Week In National Press Club History is brought to you by the History & Heritage Committee, which is dedicated to preserving and revitalizing the club’s history through displays, panel discussions, lectures and events, as well as the oral history project.

For more information on History & Heritage Committee-sponsored activities, or to join the committee, contact Bill Hickman at [email protected]

Compiled by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein ([email protected]) with assistance from Club archivist Jeff Schlosberg.